Gulf Restoration Council Soliciting Comments On 2017 Plans

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council is unveiling its plan for 2017 and looking for public feedback.

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The council uses dollars from the BP oil spill to help rebuild the gulf’s economy and environment. Council staffer Jean Cowan says under the draft proposal, council members could get up to $500,000 annually for the next three years, and then up to $300,000 a year for two years, to find and plan partnership projects.

“To put that another way—because that does sound like a lot of money,” Cowan says, “to put that another way, that’s about 1.44 percent of the total funds that we will have available to us over the course of the pay out from BP.”

Cowan says part of the idea is not duplicating the efforts of other organizations sharing similar goals. The restoration council is accepting public comment until August 14.

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